Method of and means for sealing articles with wire



- Dec. 17, 1929. H. B. FOULDER METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR SEALING ARTICLES WITH WIRE Original Filed March 18, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 17, 1929. H. B. FOULDER 5 METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR SEALING ARTICLES WITH WIRE Original Filed March 18, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fey- Patented Dec. 17, 1929 UNITED srras HENRY B. FOULDER,

Free

OF GLENBROOK, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0 JOHN P. CURRY, OF RIVERSIDE, CONNECTICUT METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR SEALING ARTICLES VV ITH WIRE Original application filed March 18, 1926, Serial No. 95,584. Divided and this application filed April 17,

1928. Serial No. 270,636.

This application is a division of my pending application Serial Number 95,584, filed March 18, 1926, on apparatus for sealing articles with wire. The invention embodied in this application relates to the method of and means for sealing containers, and more particularly to a method of and means for sealing closures over the mouths of bottles, or similar articles. I

It is customary to apply hoods over the mouths of milk bottles containing the choicer grades of milk, and to secure these hoods in place by means of metal rings. In practice a hood is first placed on a bottle and then one of the rings is properly positioned about the skirts of the hood and below a lip at the mouth of the bottle, and the ring is pinched up at several places to reduce its diameter, to confine the ring beneath the lip and to bind the hood in place on the bottle. An ob- -jectionable feature of prior constructions is that these rings may be forced downwardly on the bottles to free the hoods for removal, so that the contents of the bottles may be tampered with. Although it is desired that after the hood has been once released the seals cannot be restored to original position to seal a hood in place, this is not the case, and it is comparatively easy to manipulate a displaced seal and a removed hood back into their original position. .Thus, this type of sealing is ineffective to prevent an unauthorized person from making a substitution or adulteration of the original contents of the bottle without the fact being disclosed by the appearance or position of the replaced hood or seal. Moreover, before an emptied bottle is refilled and rescaled, it is necessary that the former seal be removed, and this is a time-consuming operation which is done by the bottler. The removal is done manually and results in a high percent of breakage, as well as involving expense.

An objectof this invention is to provide a closure and wire seal for bottles, receptacles and the like which establishes an effectiveseal to the article to which it is applied, but which may be broken quickly and easily to permit access to the contents of the article, and at the same time causes the wire be separated therefrom, thus eliminating the necessity of a separate operation by the bottler to remove the Wire after the empty bottle has been returned.

Another object of. this invention includes the provision of a method of tying objects with wire in such a way that a tied Object is effectively sealed and cannot be unsealed without rupturing the wire tie, but can be unsealed readilyand easily, accompanied by the removal of the tie from the article, and the prevention of the reuse of the tie for un authorized purposes. Another object of this invention is to devise a method for applying a wire tie to a tied object, quickly, efiiciently and efiectively. Other objects of this invention will become obvious as the disclosure proceeds.

Although a machine for carrying'out my method has been embodied in my co-pending application Serial Number 95,584 above identified, it is understood that the'various steps of my method may be carried out as effectively by hand and with hand tools. It is, therefore, understood that the method set forth in the subjoined claims contemplates the use of any and all means by which my method can be carried into efiect, and is not limitedcstrictly to the means embodied in by pending parent application above re ferred to. i

In order that a clearer understanding of Referring tothe drawings, Fig. is an exploded view of my wire ring seal and closure cap beforebeing applied to a bottle;

Fig. 2 shows the first step in applying my wire ring seal to an article, with certain parts of a machine also shown for the purpose of illustrating one of the possible means of carrying out my method;

Fig. 3 shows the second" step in applying my wire rin seal to an article, with the tie applled, twisted;

Fig. tshows the final step in carrying out under tension, and ready to be i invention.

my method, with the tie twisted and being nicked, the head of a twisting tool (shown for purposes of illustration) being still engaged with the tie and about to release itself therefrom; and

Fig. 5 shows my wire ring seal and closure cap applied in completed form to a bottle.

Similar reference characters refer to sim ilar parts throughout the several views of the drai'vings.

The wire sealforming the subject-matter.

of this invention generally consists of an endless wire ring 10 of pliable metal applied to encircle a skirted cap 11 positioned over an opening to be closed, such as the open end of a bottle 12 illustrated in Figs. 1 and 5. The wire ring is of somewhat larger diameter than that portion of the bottlewhich it is to encircle, so that the wire slips loosely thereover. sition upon the article by suitable means, and the'ring is then pulled taut until it partly conforms to the contour of the article encircled. The wire is then twisted by means .of a suitable twisting tool until thewire ring draws the skirted portion ,13 of the cap closely to the article to which the cap is applied, securely sealing the cap in place thereon. A nick 14 is then placed in the wire, preferably near the twisted portion 15. thereof, as clearly shown in Fig. 5. The nick is ofsuch size and depth that the efficacy of the wire as a sealing medium is not-thereby injured or destroyed, but is so located with respect to the twisted portionthat subsequent twist ing of the tie will cause the wire to break, permittingthe cap and wire-to :be removed. It is seen that this sealing arrangement permits-the closure cap llxand sea-ling wire 10 to be removed without any portions of the wire still surrounding the article after it has been unsealed and opened, thus-eliminating an obnoxious feature of-sealing devices heretofore used. Furthermore, after the wire has once been removed, it cannotbe replaced to again seal the article, because the wire has been broken, and the absence of the. sealwill indicate that the article has been tampered with since leaving its place of origin.

To indicate more clearly my method of sealing articles and the'various steps inthe method, I have shown in Figs. 2, 3 rnd iicertain operative elements of a machine by means of which the method is carried out, which machine forms the subject-matter of my co-pending application heretofore referred to. It is understood, however, that the various stepsof my method can efizctive ly be carried out by means of hand tools-or other devices. The particular operative elements shown in Figs. 2, '3 and 4, therefore, are merely for the purpose of better illustrating the'stepsin mym-ethod-for sealing articles with wire, and form no part ofthis The cap '11 is held in proper position,..but the hand or any device suitablefor the. purpose may also be used'. A suitable elamping element 18 may be moved toward the article being sealed to hold the skirted portion of the cap close against the article being sealed. Ananv'il member of particular formis shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 as constituting this cl-amping element, but it is. understood that any suitable tooladapted for the purpose may be used withi-nithe contemplation of thisinvention.

The Wire sealing ring 10 of somewhat larger diameter than the mouth of the article. to be encircled is then, lowered over. the cap to a position, forinst-anee, directly below the head 19 at the mouth of the bottle. The wire is then engaged by a hook 2.0 at the end of a twisting tool21-andpulled taut around a portion of thebott-le, as illustrated inFi 3. The anvil 18 prevents the bottle from following this pull on the wire ring. The wire .havingbeen drawn taut, .the twisting tool 21 is thenturned, twisting together a part of the 'wire; ring, thus drawing the wire tie and skirted portion of the cap tight ly around. the article. The cap is .now securely fixed and sealed to the article. A nick 14; is now placed in the body of the tie'near the zbaseof the twisted portion thereof, as shown more clearly in Fig. 5.. A pivoted nicking tool '22 isshown in Fig. 3 as one means of putting this nick in the tie, although any suitabletool can be used for this purpose.

The head 16 andplun-ger' 17 is now raised from the bottle, the cla'mping member 18 withdrawn from the skirted portion 13 of the cap, hook20 on the. end of twisting tool 21 withdrawn from the loop23 of the tie, and the operation is complete. The bottle is now completely sealed as shown in Fig. 5.. The twisted loop portion 23 of .the sealing tie may be folded over to extend along the contour of the bottle, if desired, so that it will take up less room and will not be caught on objects, or may be left extending outwardly, as desired.

WV'hen access to the contents ofthe bottle is desired, the finger loop portion 23 01 the "tie provides convenient means for 'twisting the tie to cause it to :break at its weakened point, whe-reup the tie becomes removed from the bottle and the bottle is unsealed. The weakening of the tieat' the twist frustrates any attempt to gain access to the contents of the bottle without breaking the twisted tie. Thus, when the intended consumer receives the bottle with the seal intact, it is certain that the contents of the bottle have not been tampered with by an unauthorized person. A great saving to the bottler results from the fact that the tie must be physically removed from the bottle when it is opened by the consumer, because if the tie or seal remains on the bottle when empty, the bottler, if he refills the bottle, must pay for having the rings or seals removed, and with the seals now in use, many bottles are broken by this operation.

The method herein set forth permits bottles to be sealed positively and securely in a quick, sanitary and eflicient manner.

As many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

l/Vhat I claim is 1. As an article of manufacture, a fastener for bottle closures comprising a metal wire surrounding the closure and contracted thereagainst, said wire having a twist preventing expansion of the contracted wire, said wire having a nick adjacent the twist whereby the wire will break when the twist is manipulated.

2. As an article of manufacture, a fastener for bottle closures comprising a metal wire surrounding the closure, said wire having a twist therein operative to hold the wire closely about the bottle and preventing expansion of the wire, said wire having a nick adjacent the twist whereby the wire will break when the twist is manipulated.

3. As an article of manufacture, a fastener for bottle closures comprising a metal wire surrounding the closure and contracted there against, said wire having a twist preventing expansion of the contracted wire, a loop in the outer end of said twist, said wire having a nick adjacent the twist whereby the wire will break when the twist is manipulated.

4:. The method of securing a skirted hood 6. The method of'securing a skirted hood cap in place on an article on which the cap is positioned, which includes positioning an endless wire tie about the skirt of the cap, clamping said skirt to the article, drawing the wire taut, twisting said wire to bind the skirt against the article, and subsequently weaking the twisted tie at a certain point so that the tie will break at said point when twisting or untwisting of the tie is thereafter attempted.

7. The method of securing a skirted hood cap in place on an article on which the cap is positioned, which includes holding the cap to the article, clamping the skirt of said cap to the article, positioning an endless wire tie about the skirt of the cap, drawing the wire taut, twisting said wire to bind the skirt to the article, and subsequently weakening the twisted tie at a certain point so that the tie will break at said point when twisting or untwisting of the tie is thereafter attempted.

This specification signed this 14th day of April, 1928.

HENRY B. FOULDER.

cap in place on an article on which the cap is positioned, which includes twisting a wire tie about the skirt of the cap to bind the skirt against the article, and subsequently weakening the twisted tie close to the twisted portion of the tie so that the tie will break at said place of weakness when subsequent twisting of the tie is attempted.

5. The method of securing a skirted hood cap in place on an article on which the cap is positioned, which includes positioning an endless wire tie about the skirt of the cap,

drawing said wire taut, twisting said wire to bind the skirt against the article, and sub- 

